North Lauderdale's water services and billing contract creates controversy

November 8, 2013

North Lauderdale is set to sign a new five-year contract with a firm for water services and utility billing, but the selection process has kicked up a controversy with one of the firms that bid for the contract threatening to go to court.

Alleging that the selection process was "unfair and improper," Ron Robbins, president of Micrim Labs Inc., asked city officials to put the contract out for bid again. The city commission decided otherwise and approved signing a contract with US Water Services Corporation, the choice of the evaluation committee. Vice Mayor Rich Moyle and Commissioner David Hilton voted "no."

The price his company quoted — $ 1,045,000 — is more than $400,000 less than that of the other two firms, Robbins said. "The city could have saved more than $2 million over five years. I wonder why the committee did not take that into consideration. Only one company, US Water Services, was present when the bids were opened. That is very shady, to say the least."

The city did not issue any public notice for the opening of the bids, Robbins said. "I was also specifically told that the bids would not be opened in public. The way they handled the whole process was totally unprofessional."

City Manager Ambreen Bhatty dismissed the allegations and defended the process and the city's choice of vendor. "We did advertise the opening of the bids. The price was just one of the factors that the evaluation committee took into consideration. Points were assigned to each criteria. The committee held open meetings."

Micrim Labs Inc. has an existing contract with Lauderhill. "They have been there only nine months," Bhatty said. "We are not saying that they are not doing a great job in Lauderhill, but the scope of service is different. It was a difficult decision, but I feel the committee did a commendable job."

Michael Miller, business development manager with Severn Trent Services, said he would have preferred the city to table the issue.

"That would have given us time to respond to some of the questions the city had," he said. "We came on Oct. 16 expecting the bids to be opened. That is when we learned that the bids were opened Oct. 11. I am not saying that the selection process wasn't fair; I just wish there wasn't any confusion."

"If there is a perception that things were done incorrectly, I would like that to be cleared up," Moyle said. "We have all been on evaluation committees. Mistakes can be made; it is not a flawless process."

Public Works Director Mike Shields, whose department put together the RFP for the project, said the process was fair. "I cannot speak for the evaluation committee, but I believe experience and qualifications were the two big determining factors. When it is a selection process, someone or the other is bound to lose out."

The evaluation committee comprised George Krawczyk, the city's assistant public works/utilities director, finance director Steve Chapman, and Sam May, Margate Public Works Director. US Water Services Corporation, which quoted a price of $1,436,424 per year, came first with 298 points and Severn Trent Services second with 286 points. Micrim Labs Inc. got 205 points. The contract is for five years with scope for a renewal.